2023-12-10 07:09

DUBAI, Dec 9 (Reuters) - China's top climate diplomat on Saturday said a final agreement on fossil fuels at the United Nations COP28 summit was crucial - even if not perfect - but he declined to say whether the country could agree to eliminating coal, oil and gas entirely. An agreement by the world's nearly 200 countries to eliminate fossil fuels - the main driver of climate change - has become the make or break issue on the negotiating table at the Dubai summit. The Chinese climate envoy, Xie Zhenhua, told reporters in a briefing that without the fossil fuels agreement there was not much chance of success at COP28. China remains heavily reliant on fossil fuels, with coal still the country's largest energy source. "The energy transition is extremely important... but this transition requires a period of pain. Each country has different national conditions," Xie said. China wants a text that expresses the need to reduce fossil fuels as quickly as possible while at the same time allowing room for developing countries to maintain energy security and grow their economies. Asked about the language options on "phasing out" fossil fuels in the latest negotiating text, Xie said China was already consulting with other countries in order to find a solution. "We all want to work together to find a language that points in the right direction of further efforts and reflects inclusiveness to the utmost extent and is acceptable to all parties," he said. He suggested that the terminology agreed by the United States and China during the Sunnylands meeting in November could offer a way forward. A target calling for the gradual reduction of fossil fuels in the global energy mix could also be an option, he said. The Sunnylands agreement does not include "phase out" but says that both sides should "accelerate renewable energy deployment in their respective economies through 2030 from 2020 levels so as to accelerate the substitution for coal, oil and gas generation". China is working with all the major negotiating groups to find a solution, and a consensus must be found among parties with vastly different views, Xie said. "The positions on the issue are currently very antagonistic, and China is trying to find a solution that is acceptable to all parties and can solve the problems," he said. China supports global goals to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030, he added, but declined to say whether it would join more than 100 countries and sign a pledge to meet the target. The veteran envoy told journalists that in his 16 years as a climate negotiator, this was the hardest COP he had ever seen. "The meeting that feels the most difficult is this year's. There are so many issues to settle." https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/china-says-fossil-fuels-deal-not-perfect-key-cop28-success-2023-12-10/

2023-12-10 06:57

DUBAI, Dec 10 (Reuters) - A fire at a small refinery in eastern Iran's Birjand special economic zone caused two explosions on Sunday and remains out of control, Iran's state media said. No casualties were reported but the damage has yet to be assessed, state media said, adding that all 18 reservoirs at the refinery have caught fire. "The initial stages of the fire consumed 1.5 million litres of fuel," Iran's semi-official Fars news agency said. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/refinery-reservoirs-near-eastern-iranian-city-birjand-catch-fire-irna-2023-12-10/

2023-12-10 02:17

Dec 9 (Reuters) - Severe storms and tornadoes in Tennessee left at least six people dead on Saturday and caused what local emergency services described as extensive damage with tens of thousands of residents without power. "At this time we can confirm that three people are deceased, two adults and one child as a result of the tornado that touched down this afternoon. Additionally, 23 people have been treated at the hospital," the Montgomery County in Tennessee said on its Facebook page. Three more deaths were reported in the suburbs of Nashville, the Nashville Office of Emergency Management said on X, formerly called Twitter. More than 80,000 people in Tennessee were left without power as of Saturday evening, according to outage tracking website poweroutage.us. "This is a sad day for our community. We are praying for those who are injured, lost loved ones, and lost their homes," Montgomery County Mayor Wes Golden said. The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office said there was damage to several homes in the city of Clarksville. Multiple trees, power lines and houses were also hit by storms in the rural town of Dresden, emergency services said. Montgomery County, where Clarksville is located, has a population of over 220,000. Officials also urged people to stay off the roads as emergency services were responding to the situation in different areas. "We are still in the search and rescue phase of this disaster," the Montgomery County said in its Facebook statement. A local school and church were set-up to shelter those displaced or in need of assistance, the statement added. The National Weather Service had issued a tornado emergency alert earlier on Saturday afternoon for several Nashville suburbs. "This is a day that nobody wanted or expected," Clarksville Mayor Joe Pitts said. "We know there's extensive damage throughout the community." https://www.reuters.com/world/us/tennessee-tornadoes-leave-least-6-dead-tens-thousands-without-power-2023-12-10/

2023-12-10 00:26

BUENOS AIRES, Dec 9 (Reuters) - A U.S. delegation gave its support to Argentine President-elect Javier Milei over talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and developing its lithium sector during a meeting in Buenos Aires on Saturday, a White House official told Reuters. Juan Gonzalez, adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden and the National Security Council's Western Hemisphere senior director, said the talks, a day ahead of Milei's inauguration, were "very positive" and focused on the country's embattled economy. Argentina is struggling with inflation nearing 150%, while over two-fifths of the population is in poverty. Its $44 billion IMF program has skidded off track, central bank net reserves are deep in the red and a recession is looming. Milei is set to roll out a series of measures to rein in state spending after his inauguration, a "shock" therapy plan which his backers hope will stabilize the economy, but which is likely to be painful for Argentines at least in the short-term. "I think priority number one is the economic challenges that Argentina is facing," Gonzalez told Reuters in an interview in Buenos Aires hours after meeting with Milei, adding the country needed space and time to get its house in order. "Argentina needs to fix those challenges," he said, adding that the grains producing country also needed to come to an agreement on its economic plan with IMF staff. "We've just been trying to encourage dialogue ... and encourage a constructive outcome between Argentina and the IMF." The current IMF program, which replaced a failed 2018 deal, has increasingly wobbled as Argentina's economic crisis has worsened, a trend that drove the rise of right-wing outsider Milei, a libertarian economist and former TV pundit. Gonzalez said that the delegation had discussed lithium with Milei, including the country's hope to benefit from the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which it currently does not as it is not a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) partner. He also said the United States was willing to support Argentina, the world's no. 4 producer lithium, expand beyond production of the key electric battery metal. "Certainly Argentina is a source of lithium, but there is no reason that Argentina should not be refining and moving up on the value chain of lithium, and we want to help," he said. Asked about a potential deal to facilitate Argentina buying used U.S. F-16 jets, he said the two sides were "having discussions", without giving further details. Milei, who has pledged a pro-U.S. foreign policy and been critical of China, is set to be sworn in Sunday with dignitaries expected including Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Right wing former Brazilian leader Jair Bolsonaro, who met with Milei on Friday, will also be there. Gonzalez said there was no meeting confirmed with Zelenskiy, who wants to bolster support for Ukraine's 21-month-old war against Russia, but that an informal discussion was likely with the U.S. delegation head, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. "I think on the floor of the inauguration, there'll be an opportunity to talk. I'm sure she'll seek him out," he said. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/us-offers-argentinas-milei-support-imf-lithium-white-house-adviser-2023-12-10/

2023-12-09 17:12

DUBAI, Dec 9 (Reuters) - The European Union's climate chief on Saturday heavily criticised an attempt by OPEC to derail a COP28 deal on phasing out fossil fuels, calling the move by the oil producers' club "unhelpful" and "out of whack". Nearly 200 countries meeting in Dubai for the U.N.'s COP28 climate summit are debating whether to agree, for the first time, to eventually end the world's use of fossil fuels, the main cause of climate change. In an unusual intervention, OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais this week urged countries in the OPEC+ group to reject any COP28 deal targeting fossil fuels, in a letter seen by Reuters. "By many, including by me, that has been seen as out of whack, as unhelpful, as not in tune with where the world stands in terms of the very dramatic situation of our climate," EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said of the OPEC letter. "We're here not to basically pay attention to our narrowly defined national or financial interests ... we're here to do what is right for the future of the world," Hoekstra told Reuters in an interview. At least 80 countries including the 27-member EU, the United States and climate-vulnerable island nations are demanding a COP28 deal to phase out fossil fuels, as scientists urge ambitious action to avert the worst impacts of climate change. "This should be the beginning of the end of fossil, and we all have to acknowledge this, whether we produce oil, consume oil, or not," Hoekstra said. He said it would be a "scandal" if COP28 failed to produce a deal that would give the world a chance of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius - the limit scientists say would avoid its most disastrous impacts. A former Dutch foreign affairs minister, Hoekstra began his own career with a three-year stint at oil major Shell (SHEL.L). Observers and negotiators at COP28 said countries including Saudi Arabia and Russia - members of OPEC and OPEC+, respectively - have been the strongest opponents of a fossil fuel phase-out deal at COP28. Coal, oil and gas account for more than 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions, which are fuelling worsening climate impacts including fatal heat, drought and rising sea levels. Burning fossil fuels has served as the engine of modern life, and developing countries at the U.N. climate talks are demanding far more financial support to help them invest in clean energy. Even with the growth of renewables, fossil fuels produce around 80% of the world's energy. Alden Meyer, a COP28 delegate with think-tank E3G, said it was the first time OPEC's Secretariat has intervened in U.N. climate talks with a letter like the one it sent this week. "It indicates a whiff of panic," he said. https://www.reuters.com/world/eu-condemns-out-whack-opec-attempt-block-cop28-fossil-fuel-deal-2023-12-09/

2023-12-09 16:44

Dec 8 (Reuters) - Funding for a joint effort by the United States and United Arab Emirates to advance climate-friendly farming around the world has grown to more than $17 billion, the countries announced on Friday at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai. The Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM for Climate) was launched in 2021 at COP26 in Glasgow and its funding comes from governments, companies, and non-governmental organizations. Globally, food and farming contribute about a third of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, according to the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization. Nearly 80 projects have been announced under the AIM for Climate initiative since 2021, with goals to expand agricultural research, implement sustainable farming practices, and reduce methane emissions. "This partnership embodies our shared commitment to accelerating investments in transformative food systems and climate-smart agricultural innovations," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in a statement. Funding for the effort has grown from $13 billion in May, when the U.S. and UAE co-hosted an AIM for Climate summit in Washington, and from $8 billion at COP27. The new total includes $12 billion from governments and $5 billion from non-government parties such as companies and humanitarian organizations, said an AIM for Climate spokesperson. The 27 new projects announced at COP28 range in size from $500 million to $150,000. Partners in one of the largest initiatives, aimed at expanding regenerative agriculture, include Bunge (BG.N), Google (GOOGL.O), The Nature Conservancy and the Brazilian state of Para. Regenerative agriculture generally refers to practices like reduced tillage of cropland and lower pesticide use. For the first time, agriculture is a major focus at this year's climate summit, with a full day on Dec. 10 dedicated to food and farming topics. "We are witnessing tremendous progress in transforming the global food and agricultural systems at COP28," said UAE Minister for Climate and the Environment Mariam Almheiri in a statement. Advocacy groups want the nations and companies in attendance to pledge to tackle agricultural methane emissions in particular, most of which is from livestock production. (This story has been corrected to clarify the relationship between the partners in paragraph 9) https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/cop28-us-uae-climate-friendly-farming-effort-grows-17-bln-2023-12-08/